Springbok tighthead prop Thomas du Toit is driving Bath’s charge towards Investec Champions Cup glory, writes LINDIZ VAN ZILLA.
Bath booked a place in the quarter-finals with a hard-fought win over Saracens and it was the impact of Du Toit that proved decisive.
Introduced off the bench at half-time, Du Toit transformed the scrum contest, swinging the momentum of the game firmly in Bath’s favour in a Man of the Match performance.
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“I thought Thomas was fantastic in that second half,” Bath director of rugby Johann van Graan said. “In my view, he’s currently one of the best players in the world. He was phenomenal in the scrum, in defence and in attack.”
“It’s quite handy having Thomas du Toit coming off the bench, isn’t it?” remarked Saracens boss Mark McCall wryly.
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After discomfort at scrum time, Johann van Graan has put Beno Obano and Thomas du Toit into the thick of things in the first half
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The Independent rugby correspondent Harry Latham-Coyle wrote: “South African interest in this competition may have ended by narrow defeats for the Stormers and Bulls, yet it was still a Springbok who perhaps had the most pivotal impact of the round.
“Saracens had been in control at the set-piece until the replacement tighthead’s arrival. Du Toit swung both scrum and game his side’s way, enabling them to overcome on a day where they did not find attacking fluency or their usual red-zone efficiency.”
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Latham-Coyle said that Van Graan has an “embarrassment of riches” at tighthead in the form of internationals Will Stuart and Archie Griffin, along with promising youngster Vilikesa Sela.
“But it is his 30-year-old South African that Van Graan goes to in the big moments.”
He argued that it is Du Toit – rather than the mercurial Finn Russell – who has been Bath’s “best signing in recent years”.
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Saturday’s last-16 clash against Saracens was Bath’s first home Champions Cup knockout game since 2002 and set up an all-English quarter-final against the Northampton Saints at The Rec on Friday night.
Du Toit will end his three-year association with the English club at the end of the season to return home to the Sharks.
With several other members of the squad – including fellow South African prop Francois van Wyk – also leaving at the end of the season, this may be Bath’s best opportunity to push for European glory.
Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images
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Springbok tighthead prop Thomas du Toit is driving Bath’s charge towards Investec Champions Cup glory.
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